SLIDE/SHOW

Words by Iain Kelly Photos by Mark Pakula

So you’re into drifting and want to drive a competition-spec car. Cool, but what happens if you also want a kick-arse dori-inspired, totally unique ride for the street that’ll also hold it’s own at car shows? Well, you’re left with really one option if you want to do it right: build two cars.

Queensland drifter Jerome Kennedy did just that, though the original plan didn’t quite run to fruition. In the beginning, he was going to transform his then near-new, stock S14A 200SX into a side-winding competition monster, though as build times spiralled out of control and it looked like he’d miss a decent chunk of wheel time in the burgeoning scene, he turned to his daily hack S13 and built it into what was at the time one of the first seriously well-presented drift cars on the scene.

With the debut of his awesome, mega power, widebody blue S14A last year, we organised to have him bring both cars to a full-on studio photoshoot so we could showcase two of the hottest Silvias in Queensland to you guys.

While many would focus all their energy in perfecting one car at a time, Jerome actually divided his time between both cars, adapting many unique and incredibly desirable features into the development of both, while pushing the level of engineering, finish and detail through the roof. They’re two cars, re-constructed in a similar mind-set to go about delivering their same ultimate end-goal in very different ways. So, read on and be amazed at what Jerome and 101 Racing have achieved.

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As it stands today, the formerly blue, S14A-faced Silvia known as PIG513 is a battered, well-worn and decidedly used-looking testament to how hard drifters push their cars. The once beautiful Velocity Red pearl paintjob (and glitter-filled black turret) is chipped, scarred and flaked, having copped plenty of abuse from kitty litter, ripple strips, flying rubber and other cars, and Jerome reckons that the car turns in too lazily, meaning the chassis is softening and past its competitive best.

Still, you’re looking at the 2005 DriftZone Q1 Series Champion, a car that beat a host of other super-competitive vehicles along the way and satisfied Jerome’s appetite for the side-winding sport while his S14 sat idly by in the workshop.

The first thing that most people notice is the unconventional S14A front-end conversion and BN Sports uber-wide body kit, instead of the all-too-common S15 “strawberry face” or 180SX swaps. The older generation coupe’s rear guards take on a different look with the BNS kit, seeming more like hugely flared out stock items rather than complete aftermarket creations, but, this mix-master approach to styling bodes well for the overall aesthetics. In the car’s beautiful shade of pearl red (sprayed on by those legends at DMD), along with the crazy fat VeilSide 18x9.5-inch and 18x10.5-inch wheels, you’re looking at a seriously horn bit of kit.

At idle, PIG513’s SR20 sounds far more anaemic that its wilder brother. Smoother and raspier, packing an edgy note that does away with the deeper, ballsier grunt of the S14’s motor for decibel overload that rattles windows and fills the photographic studio we’re in with fumes in seemingly no time at all. You can tell this car has been built to win competitions in its pure-minded focus.